t, the collector of the famous Merly Library, was born in
1719. He was the elder son of Henry Willett, of the island of St.
Christopher in the West Indies. In 1736 he matriculated at the
University of Oxford from Oriel College, but did not take a degree; and
in 1739 he was admitted a student at Lincoln's Inn. Willett early
developed a taste for books and pictures, and his inheritance of the
family estates in the West Indies, on the death of his father in 1740,
enabled him to form splendid collections of them. In 1751 he purchased a
property at Merly, near Wimborne, Dorsetshire, where in 1752 he built a
noble mansion, which later he enlarged by adding two wings, in one of
which he constructed a handsome room for a library, which he ornamented
with frescoes and arabesque designs. A description of this library,
written by Willett in English and French, was printed in 1776 in octavo,
and reprinted in 1785 by John Nichols in a large folio volume, with
twenty-five illustrations of the designs. His London house was in Dean
Street, Soho. Willett was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries
in 1763, and contributed two papers on _The Origin of Printing_ to the
_Archaeologia_, which were reprinted at Newcastle in 1818-20; and a third
on _British Naval Architecture_. In 1764 he was also elected a Fellow of
the Royal Society. He died on the 13th of January 1795. Willett, who was
twice married, but left no issue, bequeathed his property to his cousin
John Willett Adye, who took the name of Willett, and was M.P. for New
Romney from 1796 to 1806. This gentleman, shortly before his death,
which occurred on 26th of September 1815, parted with the collections
which had been left to him. The pictures were sold by Peter Coxe and Co.
on May 31st, 1813, and two following days, and the books by Leigh and
Sotheby on December 6th, and sixteen following days. The same
auctioneers also sold the botanical drawings, of which there was a large
number, on the 20th and 21st of December; and the books of prints on the
20th of February in the succeeding year. The books were disposed of in
two thousand seven hundred and twenty lots, and realised thirteen
thousand five hundred and eight pounds, four shillings. The sale
catalogue states that the library consisted of 'a most rare assemblage
of the early printers, fine specimens of block-printing, old English
chronicles, etc., in the finest preservation, likewise an extensive and
magnificent collection o